Water treating plant



April 1949- J. c. KING 2,462,433

WATER TREATING PLANT Filed May 29, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet l JB/wn C. /1/'7z 7 INVENTOR,

ATTORNEY April 19, 1949. of KING 2,467,433

WATER TREATING PLANT Filed May 29, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jb/z n C. King INVENTOR,

ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 19, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WATER TREATING PLANT John C. King, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Application May 29, 1946, Serial No. 673,187

1 Claim. 1

The invention relates to apparatus for chemically treating water, particularly water for use in boilers.

It is common practice at the present time to provide a treating tank for retaining a bed of chemicals, the boiler water being forced to percolate through the bed before being introduced to the boiler. The flakes or granules of the chemical bed, after considerable use, became coated and more or less clogged by mineral deposit from the water. When this condition arises, it is necessary to flush the bed with a saline solution in order to remove the mineral deposit, usually alkaline in nature, which forms a coating around the granules.

The present invention primarily relates to apparatus whereby the above mentioned chemical bed may be periodically cleaned and freshened.

In freshening the chemical bed in such water treating plants, it is common practice to add a salt or salts to the flushing water, and to forcibly agitate the chemical bed by reversing the direction of flow therethrough of the flushing saline solution. It has become a common practice in such treating plants to provide an auxiliary tank adjacent the treating tank, with pipe connections leading between the two. The plumbing arrangement is such that after the auxiliary tank has been filled with salt, water may be introduced therein to mix with the salt, and the mixture may then be forcibly introduced into the treating tank to agitate the chemical bed, so as to freshen and cleanse the same. After the flushing operation, the auxiliary or salt tank is then disconnected through valve operation from operative communication with the treating tank.

The above described conventional mode of construction and operation is such, that the salt tank remains idle between flushing operations, and a residue of salty solution or precipitated salt usually remains in the salt tank for comparative long periods of time. The result is that the salt tank usually rusts out and must be replaced at comparatively short intervals.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a water treating plant, so arranged that the saline flushing solution may be produced in an auxiliary tank, and may be fed to the treating tank at will, but in which the salt tank also forms a part of the fresh water flow system between the times of flushing operation.

Excessive rusting of the auxiliary tank and its allied plumbing is therefore eliminated.

Another object is to provide a device which is simple to install, control, and to operate.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying two sheets of drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the treating plant of the present invention, the two tanks being shown in vertical section;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of Fig. 4; and

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in all of the figures wherein they occur.

In the drawings:

The reference numeral l indicates, as a whole, a conventional water treating or filter tank, the lower portion of which is filled with a bed or body 2 of pea-sized gravel, and which contains thereabove, a bed or body 3 of suitable flaked or granulated chemical for treating water as it percolates downwardly therethrough, before it is conveyed to a boiler or other apparatus, not shown.

In carrying out the invention, the following described mechanism is provided:

Horizontally disposed in the lower portion of the tank I, and imbedded in the gravel body 2, is a cross I0 made of pipe. One leg II of the pipe-cross I0 passes hermetically through a side wall of the tank I, and the other legs I2, I3 and I4 are capped at their outer ends, (Fig. 3). The legs I2, I3 and I4 are substantially identical, and each has a plurality of spaced transverse through slots I5 in its lower wall, (Figs. 4 and 5). The leg I I also has some of the slots IS.

The upper end of the tank I is closed except for a through perforation which threaded'ly receives a pipe nipple I6. Within the tank I and spacedly disposed a slight distance below the lower end of the nipple I6, there is provided a rigidly mounted horizontal baffle plate or disc I! which has two waved through slots I8, (Fig. 2).

Outside of the tank I, the leg II of the pipecross I0 is equipped with a pipe-T I9, the horizontal leg of which receives a horizontal nipple 20 adapted to be selectively closed by a suitable valve 2|. The vertical leg of the pipe-T l9 receives a vertically disposed pipe section 22.

The nipple I6 in the upper end of the tank I is connected by an elbow 23 to a horizontal pipe section 24, which in turn is connected by another elbow 25 to a vertically disposed depending pipe section 26. The pipe sections 22 and 26 are disposed in vertical axial alignment with each other.

Between the adiacent ends of the two pipe sections 22 and 26, the following elements are disposed, beginning at the top: a pipe union 21; a nipple 28; a pipe-T 29 having a horizontal leg 30; a nipple 3!; a cut-off valve 32; a nipple 33; a pipe-T 34 having a horizontal leg 35; a nipple 36; a cut-01f valve 31; a nipple 38; and a pipe union 39 connecting the nipple 38 to the lower pipe section 22.

The horizontal leg 30 of the pipe-T 29 receives one end of a nipple 40 to the other end of which is connected a cut-ofi valve 4|, and the outer end of the valve 4| is connected to a flushand 54, and the pipe 55 has a plurality of elongated through slots, 56 one of which may be seen in Fig. 1. The pipe 55 is hermetically sealed with the tank walls through which is passes, and the protruding ends thereof are equipped with cut-ofi valves 51 and 58.

Adjacent its upper end, the tank 50 is provided with a horizontal outlet pipe 59, the inner end of which has an arcuate cut-away portion 60 to admit liquid thereinto. The outlet pipe 59 projects hermetically through the wall of the tank 50, and its outer end is connected by a pipe-union 6| to the above described horizontal nipple 43.

During normal operation of the above described treating apparatus, the valves 58, 31, p

and 4| are closed. A water supply line, not shown, is connected to the valve 51 which is normally open. Untreated water flows into the salt tank 50 through the slots 56 in the pipe 55, and out of the tank through the pipe 59. The water reaches the tank I by passing from the pipe 59 through the union 6|, the nipple 43, the pipe-T 34, the nipple 33, the open valve 32, the nipple 3|, the pipe-T 29, the nipple 28, the union 21, the pipe section '26, the elbow 25, the pipe section 24, theelbow 23, and the nipple Hi.

The water in entering the tank encounters the baffle plate I1 and its speed of travel is therefore checked to prevent undue agitation of the bed 3. The water percolates downwardly through the chemical bed and the gravel bed 2, and enters the slots l5 in the legs of the pipe-cross I0. From the pipe-cross, the treated water leaves the tank I through the horizontal leg II and the valve 2|.

The pipe connections between the tank 50 and the tank might well be considered to constitute a pipe Y, with the elements 59, 6| and. 43 constituting the central leg, the elements 33, 32, 3|, 29, 28, 21, 26, 25, 24, 23, and I6 constituting the upper branch of the Y, and the elements 35, 31, 38, 39, 22, H), II, and I0 constituting the lower branch of the Y.

When it becomes desirable to flush the chem ical bed 3 with salt water, the valves 51, 32, and 2| are first closed: the valves 31 and 4| are then opened, and the valve 58 is finally opened just long enough to drain the auxiliary tank 50, then it is re-closed. With the salt tank empty, or partially so, the cap 52 is removed and the tank is filled or partially filled with salt, after which the cap is replaced. The salt thus placed in the tank 50 is indicated by the reference numeral 62. The plant is then in condition for the flushing operation to be started by the opening of the valve 51.

When the valve 51 is thus opened, water enters the tank 50 through the slots 56 in the horizontal pipe 55, and forms with the salt body 62 a saline flushing solution. The solution leaves the tank 50 through the outlet pipe 59 and travels to the cross I!) in the tank I via the following described course; through the union 6|; the nipple 43; the T 34; the nipple 36; the open valve 31; the nipple 38; the union 39; the vertical pipe 22; the T l9; and the leg ll of the pipe-cross It. The flushing solution enters the gravel bed 2 through the slots |5 with sufficient force and velocity to'suitably agitate and wash the particles composing the chemical bed 3. The used flushing solution then leaves the tank I through the nipple 6, and travels to the exhaust or waste pipe 42 through the elbow 23; the pipe section 24; the elbow 25; the vertical pipe sec tion 26; the union 21; the nipple 28; the T '29; the nipple 40; and the open valve 4|.

After the flushing operation has been continued for the desired length of time, the system is returned to its normal operative position by opening the valve 32; closing the valves 31 and 4| and by then opening the valve 2|.

The treating operation then continues as above described with the incoming un-treated water passing through the salt tank before reaching the treating tank I through the nipple l6.

From the foregoing description it is thought to be apparent, that a water treating plant or system has been disclosed which will accomplish the objects and purposes set forth.

Obviously the invention could Well be altered to some extent without defeating its practicability, and I therefore do not wish to be confined to only the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described hereinabove, further than I am limited by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

The combination with a water treating tank containing a chemical bed through which water may flow through an outlet toward a point of consumption, said tank having a disposal outlet for waste fluid, of: an auxiliary salt tank having an inlet for raw water; a pipe Y having its center leg attached to the salt tank and acting as an outlet therefor, one branch of the Y being connected to the upper portion of said treating tank, and the other branch being attached to the lower portion of said treating tank; valves arranged in said Y whereby raw water may be delivered from the salt tank to the upper end of said treating plant, and also whereby water may be delivered from the salt tank to the lower portion of the treating plant when it is desired to salt-wash the chemical bed therein.

JOHN C. KING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the Lindsay -1 Apr. 25, 1944 

